The Apartment Upstairs
by panemsbest
Summary: Katniss, Johanna and Finnick have moved from across the pond to California. The three best friends start their lives with a bang, and life couldn't get any better... could it? Rated M for language and adult themes.
1. Chapter 1

"_Thanks for a great night, Jo."_

"_My pleasure, Brainless. Now get in there and get it on with your man; god knows you need it."_

_With a roll of my eyes, I slam the car door. I run through the car park to make it into the lobby of my apartment building. The weather had held up all day but now it's like a torrential downpour of rain, soaking me almost instantly. _

_After climbing three flights of stairs, I make it to my apartment and put the keys into the lock. I decide not to call out, to surprise him, and close the door quietly. After putting my keys on the sideboard, I creep towards the kitchen. The light's on so I assume that he's getting a midnight snack, only what I'm greeted with is something not entirely the opposite. _

_They pull away from each other with a gasp, guilt on their faces. I am utterly stunned, unable to form any words. _

"_It's not what it looks like."_

"_It's not what it looks like," I repeat quietly. I glance over at the girl. "Get out."_

_With a last look at him, her bleached blonde hair and lipstick stained lips brush past me and out of the apartment, the door slamming only slightly. Now it's only me and him. Me and him, with his messy sex hair and rosy swollen lips. I stay quiet. This is what scares him the most. When I'm calm. _

"_She kissed me first-"_

"_You kissed her back." He doesn't reply and looks at his feet. "How long?"_

"_Kat, it's not what you think, I-"_

"_How. Long." My voice is still calm and his eyes show panic. This is where his fault lies; he can't lie to me. He's never been able to, in our year of dating. We moved in together last month, thinking it was the right time in our relationship. _

"_Three months," he whispers._

_My heart almost stops. I almost laugh. I feel like laughing, at how naive I am. Instead I just smile and nod. _

"_Glad to know our relationship meant something to you."_

"_It does. Katniss, I made a mistake."_

"_A mistake?!" My voice has risen now, giving up my effort at being calm. "A mistake is a kiss with colleague at a Christmas party when you've both had too much to drink! A mistake is accidentally brushing someone's ass as you brush past them! This… this is not a mistake, Gloss!" _

"_I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."_

"_No," I say. "No, you're not. I mean, three months? You could have just broken up with me, instead of asking me to move in with you. I gave up my plans to go to California for you. I gave up my dream of my bar, of auditioning for movies, for _you!" _I take a deep breath, catch my thoughts and all the obscenities I could yell at him and return to my calm demeanour. "Y'know what? Thank you. Thanks for… being stupid enough for me to find out. Now I can move on."_

_I turn to the bedroom and grab my suitcase from the wardrobe. I shove my clothes in and any other essentials before zipping it up and pulling it to the door. Gloss sits at the table with his head in his hands. _

"_Kat, don't go. Please," he pleads, but I'm numb. His teary eyes are doing nothing. I feel no sympathy for what he's done. I will not cry over him. Instead, I keep my face cold. I look in his icy eyes one last time before saying the last thing he'll ever hear me say. _

"_Goodbye, Gloss. I hope you're happy."_

"Can you guys believe it?! We're all going to Cali _together!" _Johanna screams as she tops up our glasses with pina colada.

"And we're not leaving Kat behind anymore!" Finnick laughs.

"Well then, cheers to Gloss!" I laugh too, raising my glass.

"No, no. Not cheers to Gloss. SCREW GLOSS AND HIS BIMBO! Cheers to… cheers to us!" Johanna raises her glass with mine and Finnick does the same.

"Cheers to us!" we all shout.

It baffles my mind how only two weeks ago I found Gloss in our apartment cheating on me and already I feel like a new person. I feel like a weight has lifted.

I collected my things from Gloss' while he was at work. Unfortunately, while Johanna and Finnick were waiting for me in the truck, he walked in. He looked tired. He just stared at me as if he was seeing a ghost. He tried to talk to me, apologise again, just like he'd been doing in all the ignored phone calls and text messages. I deleted most of them but the ones I read were pretty pathetic. What surprised me is that he broke up with the Blonde in an attempt to get me back but it did nothing. The damage was done. I just shook my head at him, saying nothing, feeling disgusted, and got out of there as fast as I could, screaming "DRIVE" as soon as I got in the truck.

In two days, the three of us are moving to California, but that's a weight I can afford to ignore for the time being. We've got all of our stuff packed into boxes and shipped to our new apartments already so there's no need to worry about that. Johanna and I will be living together but Finnick opted to live on his own for the first time. Though, he's only down the road, within waking distance in fact.

Of course, this isn't the first time we've moved. The first time was right after University. Johanna, Finnick and I packed up and moved from home to the States, planning to spend a year here in North Carolina and then move to California where Jo and I planned to open a bar. Those plans were thwarted when I met Gloss but they're back on track now. Oh, I forgot to mention, home is England.

I met Johanna in my third year of Secondary School. She's was as loud and as boisterous as she always has been, but I was shy and practically friendless. One thing we found in common were books. We both loved to read. We could talk for hours about books; we lent each other our favourites and laughed about lines and embarrassing things the characters did and said. Eventually we both found out we loved to read comics, watch movies (that weren't romantic), skateboard and stargaze.

I was still my shy self, but she brought me more out of my shell. I would laugh more, smile more. I became loud whenever I was with her, although retreated to my old ways when I wasn't. Johanna is positively gorgeous, although she usually disagrees with you. Her eyes are a piercing green, much like Finnick's and her hair is jet black. In our first year of Sixth Form, we both shaved our heads to raise money for cancer in honour of a YouTuber that died of Leukaemia, and she decided to keep her hair in a short pixie cut afterwards.

Jo introduced me to Finnick not long after we met and he had much of the same effect she did of bringing me out of my shell. Finnick was incredibly friendly, maybe even a little overly friendly, but I soon found out that much of it was an act and that he, like Johanna, shared my love of all things nerdy, such as comic and also shared part of our hatred for the world, though not as much as us. Finnick began to make girls swoon in University, with his toned abs and dimples, but his golden brown hair and big sea green eyes have always been the same, making me see him as the loud kid I met when I was fourteen. The three of us were inseparable.

When I told them I was staying in Carolina, Jo and I got into a big fight. We rarely ever fight, but when we do it's advised to take cover. I hate fighting with Johanna and I am not upset to admit that she has won that fight, fair and square.

And now, we sit on the dirty wooden floor of Johanna and Finnick's (and once my) empty apartment with nothing but three sleeping bags, backpacks with clothes and essentials, bottles of cheap supermarket alcohol and three glasses, playing drinking games and laughing about old times.

"What are you guys looking forward to most?" Finnick asks, draining his glass.

"Opening the bar, decorating the apartment, getting to know my way around. Probably looking for a coffee shop that will be our 'place'. Like Central Perk in Friends," I say.

"BOO, you're boring! I'm looking forward to meeting the people. Scoping out the talent," Johanna winks. I roll my eyes. "What about you, Finn?"

"Much the same as you, Jo, but… I think I'm ready to try and find that one girl," he says with a shy smile.

I put my hand on my heart and sigh, leaning on Johanna, "Look at our little Finny, all grown up." He sticks his tongue out at me and fills up our cups. "This is nice. It feels like we haven't done this is forever."

"That's because we haven't," says Johanna bluntly. They both stare at me and I groan.

"I'm sorry, okay? You now have my complete and undivided attention, now that I'm not wasting my time on some arsehole," I mumble grumpily.

"It's not that we don't want you to spend time with some arsehole, it's that we just want you to have some time for us arseholes too." They both give me overly cheesy smiles and we laugh.

I can't help but finally feel like myself again, like I've been playing a part all this time… oh who am I kidding? I wasn't happy with Gloss. That wasn't happiness. This is happiness. The feeling I have right now, where I can't get the smile off my face and I'm constantly joining in on conversation without effort, this is what I haven't been feeling. This is what I needed.

"Can I just say thank you to you two for being my favourite arseholes in the entire world?" I ask.

Johanna and Finnick look at each other for second before both smiling.

"You're our favourite arsehole too, Brainless."

* * *

**Phew, chapter one uploaded:)**

**ok so I am unsure of how often this will be updated but I will assure you that I shall try and update at least once every two weeks if not more. **

**Review and tell me what you think:)**


	2. Chapter 2

"Dude!" Jo calls. "Are all the boxes out of the truck?"

"Yeah, they're all out," I shout back. Jo and I have been unpacking for the past two days and today we took a trip around the town, shopping for anything else we needed. When we got here we picked up my old red pick-up truck from Haymitch's Garage. Red was a gift from Jo and Finn for my birthday last year, around the time we bought the bar. It's been on hold here in Cali ever since. I can't believe I almost lost it because of a guy.

Our apartment is quite large and just down the road from the bar. As soon as you walk through the door you're in the living room and right ahead is the kitchen. There's a small wall with a window connecting the living room and the kitchen with a couple of chairs. This is where Jo and I usually have dinner, if we don't eat in front of the TV or at the island in the centre of the kitchen. We have one sofa, fabric with multi-coloured stripes and two arm chairs with the same pattern. There is also a coffee table and a flat screen TV. Beside the TV, we have our DVD collection and our games consoles.

On the back wall, we have our skateboards hung up and beside the boards we have our paintball guns. I guess you can tell just from this that we're not exactly your normal pair of girls. There are also canvases with pictures of the three of us hung up on the other walls.

Turning right from the front door, there is a hallway. The first door on the left is Johanna's room and the first door on the right is my room. Our bedrooms are identical, just mirrored. Further down next to my room is the guest room and on Johanna's side is the bathroom. The guest room is small than our rooms and has a double bed. The only person that will stay there on short notice is Finn so there's no need for us to do it up. The bathroom is simple, blue tiled walls, shower, sink, toilet and medical cupboard behind the mirror.

I'm in my bedroom. I have my bed against the right wall, opposite the window, and my wardrobe against the far wall. I also have a desk on my wall next to the door. That whole wall is going to be covered with pictures of my friends and me, but it's only half done. I wanted to wait until we made some more memories here before I finished it. The wall above my bed is painted with blackboard paint, so I can doodle, write reminders or let Jo and Finn leave messages.

I'll probably end up adding more but right now I just want to lie down. The stress of moving is getting to me, I have large knots in my back and I haven't slept on my bed in two days due to the paint drying.

I flop down onto my bed, face down, and try to relax. Unfortunately, Jo flops down on top of me moments later and I groan loudly.

"What do you want to do tonight?" she asks.

"Nothing! I'm so tired and my back hurts like hell," I complain. She shifts off of me and tells me to lie in the middle of the bed. I do as instructed and she sits on the back of my legs. Then, as I shut my eyes, she proceeds to give me the most amazing massage I've ever had.

"Guys!" Finn calls. Jo shouts that we're in my room and appears against the door frame, eyebrow raised.

"Are you sure?"

"WE'RE NOT IN A GAY RELATIONSHIP!" I shout into the pillow. I hear Jo laugh as she says, "I may swing that way occasionally, and Brainless may be hot, but sorry to disappoint you. It's never going to cannon."

Finn pouts and then, after looking at Jo giving me a massage for about two minutes, says, "I still ship it," then laughs. "What are we doing for dinner?"

"I don't think I can stomach another take-out meal," says Jo. "We have some chicken we can reheat. Can we go to that bakery that's just opened opposite the bar and get some bread?"

"I'll go," I say, pushing up from the bed, causing Johanna to roll backwards. "You guys get things ready here. I won't bother stopping by the bar, we'll go tomorrow," I tell Johanna. The bar's official opening is this Saturday and it's only Wednesday.

I grab my keys and a board and make my way downstairs. Our apartment building is so much nicer than the ones in New York. We stayed there for a couple of months while Finnick sorted out some things to do with a job transfer. As much as I like New York, the city _literally never sleeps_. I mean, a girl's got to get some shut eye sometime, right?

Once the elevator dings open on the ground floor, I drop my board to the floor and push off out the door. This part of California is so clean. The people are friendly, the streets are litter-less, and the sun is always shining. I'm suddenly thankful for wearing shorts today.

Johanna and I are usually clad in jeans, camisoles or fandom t-shirts, XL men's shirts and beanies. It's what we're comfortable in and we like it that way. It suits us. As I roll down the street, I watch all the clean people walking down the pavement and I can't help but worry if we're going to fit in. Johanna and I have a lot of tattoos and we're not exactly the most normal people you'll ever meet. Finn has a few tattoos himself, although his job as a swimming coach doesn't allow him to have that many, due to the fact he's topless most of the time. Then again, we've never wanted to fit in before. We stand out and that's what's so good about us, I guess.

I arrive at the centre of town and skate towards the Bar. Two days ago, a Bakery opened up just opposite the bar. I think they had been going through remodelling because before long, the store was swarmed with people greeting each other like old friends. Jo and I had been in there a couple of times before, being served by a blonde haired teenage boy and a red headed teenage girl. They seem to handle the shop well but it's obviously that they don't own it. I wonder where the owner is.

"Welcome to Mellark's Bakery, how can I help- well _hello there,_" the blonde haired boy says to me as I walk in. I roll my eyes and he winks at me, leaning over the counter. "What can I get a pretty girl like you today?" he purrs.

"Okay, first, as flattered as I am," I say, "you're creepy and way too young for me, so stop. And second-"

"Jace, are you harassing the customers again?" the short fiery red head appears from the kitchen. Jace stops looking at me and turns to her with a flirty smirk.

"Of course I'm not, you're the only one I ever harass," he says, matter of fact.

The red head grimaces. "Gross."

"You love it, Clary," he winks at her too.

"Get in the kitchen, asshole," she orders. He immediately does as she says, huffing as he goes, and she looks at me with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, he's only playing around, I promise."

"It's no problem, just a little creepy," I chuckle.

"That's Jace for you," she laughs. "I'm Clary, by the way."

I shake her hand. "Katniss."

"Well, what can I get you Katniss?"

I order my cheese buns and flat bread, say a quick goodbye to Clary and board home. My stomach started to rumble halfway home and so I sped up my pace, almost crashing into a few people while rolling down the hill.

Once I reach the apartment building, I'm drenched in sweat. I rush upstairs and burst through the door. _God, it's hot out._

"Where've you been? We've been waiting for ages!" says Johanna teasingly, looking at my out of breath state from rushing home.

"Get- food- in- me- now-" I pant.

We all sit around the kitchen island and eat together. We talk about Finn's new job that he started on Monday. He's working as the swim coach at the local high school and leisure centre. I've got to say, the pay is quite good and he's doing something he loves, so we listen happily to his stories. He tells us about all the teachers at the school and about how he coached some weedy nerd into beating three jocks in a swim race.

"You should have seen the little shits faces when they lost, I felt like a proud parent!" he beams. We laugh and clear away our plates. We then all settle down and watch a film, but hardly pay attention as its one we've seen hundreds of times before. "So you guys going to the bar tomorrow?" Finn asks.

I nod. "We got some last minute things to set up. I'm so excited about Saturday though."

"There's going to be a mob. We might have to call in Thresh to bouncer the door," Jo jokes. Thresh is a large bulky football player, and is also the brother of one of the young waitresses we've hired, Rue. They actually happen to live two floors down from us. "Can you believe it? The only thing we need left to successfully do is become famous youtubers and for you to get your lucky break in a movie," she says dreamily. Johanna and I have had our youtube channel since we were fourteen and we've really taken off, although we're not at the level of danisnotonfire or AmazingPhil, TomSka or Slomozovo just yet. And hearing Jo say out loud that I'm going to get my big break has given me hope. She knows that I've wanted to be an actress ever since I was a child and will do anything to help me achieve my dream.

Around 11:30, Finn crashes on the couch and Jo and I decide to call it a day. We separate to our rooms and try to fall asleep. After about two hours of reading, half an hour of trying to get to sleep, and hour of writing a new sketch, I give up on the hope of sleep, open my laptop and open the Tumblr tab.

* * *

**Okay, so I've said on my profile that most of the characters in the story are going to be based off real people. This is because the real characters are so much like the people in my life and it's easy to use dreams I've had in the story.**

**Katniss is based on yours truly. This is because the Katniss in this story, and in the book, are so much alike myself in a lot of ways (for example,I always have a scowl on my face). Finnick and Johanna are based on my two best friends Ollie and Burry. The story is based around dreams I've had of us moving to America and opening a bar. This is because right after university, Burry and I plan to move to North Carolina for a year before moving onto California, where I have hopes of getting my chance. The appearance of the characters are based loosely on how we'd like to look when we're older. We all plan to have tattoos, the clothing styles are what we love to wear, this summer we are taking up paintball, I love wearing my hair in a braid, we have a youtube channel that we're hoping will take off etc. **

**As more characters are introduce I will write a short biography about the real life people that they're based on so you can get a better understanding of story lines and back stories. I will be warping the characters around themes that are included in the books so do not fear, there will still be references to the book inside the story.**

**Please review, they make my day so much better, especially when I've had a bad week. PM me if you have any funny stories I could include in the story, if you'd like to be a character, or know someone that would be a good symbolisation as a character, and give me a full character profile. Remember that ages of characters can be changed, as this is an AU. Here are a list of characters I still need personalities for:**

**Bonnie, Twill  
Beetee  
Wiress  
Enobaria  
Gloss  
Cashmere  
Brutus  
Mags  
Cecelia  
Woof  
Chaff  
Seeder  
Rory, Vick, Posy  
Octavia, Venia, Flavius  
Lavina  
Atala  
Boggs  
Castor, Pollux**

**If there are typos could you point them out for me so I can correct them as I've had no time to proofread this chapter, THANK YOU! - panemsbest**


	3. Chapter 3

"_Run!"_

"_I'm running, I'm running!" I shout. _

"_Run faster! Get your sister, go!" I grab Prim's hand and drag her along, turning back to see my father walking back._

"_Dad, where are you going?!" I scream, tears streaming down my face._

_He kneels in front of me, takes my face in his hands and looks me in the eyes. _

"_Be strong for me. Can you do that?" he asks desperately. I nod. "Run, run as fast as you can. Find your mother. Tell her I love her." I nod again, struggling to see through the smoke and my tears. "I love you, Katniss, Primrose. I love you both so much." He kisses both of our heads before telling us to run again. So that's what I do. But not before watching him run back into the flames._

I bolt upright, gasping for air. I can feel the flames, licking my skin. The burn on my ankles as it tried to grab me, pull me in. I throw my covers off of me and kick my feet out of bed, putting my head in my hands.

I've had nightmares ever since that night. I shiver just thinking about it. It's not something one forgets easily, but it's never something I enjoy remembering.

I glance at my alarm clock. _5:30 am. Great. _We've been in the apartment for a couple of days now. We spent the whole of yesterday painting the living room and blasting our music. Fortunately, our neighbour, Mags – an elderly woman that has taken a liking to Finnick- is partially deaf and doesn't mind the noise.

Deciding that now is a better time than any, I get up, throw on a sports bra and my running gear, grab my Ipod, and make my way out the door. I've been running ever since I was a teenager. I never enjoyed doing it in school, and I've always suffered from shin splints, but when I'm alone, it allows me to think. To get away from everything, even just for a little while. And I run because he told me to run. I'm also a big fan of running away from my problems until they go away. _Ah, Stiles Stilinski, my God. _

I turn up Of Mice and Men as the elevator reaches the ground floor and I turn off the world. When we were looking for an apartment near the bar, the thing that made me love the place we live so much is the running trail nearby. It's secluded, in a wooded area, away from civilisation, and if you know where to detour, you end up in my favourite place here in California, next to the beach. I found the meadow all by myself, and I have yet to show it to Jo and Finn. I guess I'm still holding onto the remaining privacy before I share it with the people I love.

I'm halfway along the trail when my Ipod stops. I take it out of my bra (since there's nowhere else for me to put it) and change the album. I've had my Ipod for over 10 years, and it's still reliable but I knew I should have updated my Itunes before I-

_Umph._ I'm on my front, suddenly horizontal. But the ground feels weird. It's warm and-

"Urggh," I lift my head up and my eyes meet the most beautiful blue orbs I've ever seen. My jaw goes slack and my mouth dry. We just lay there, staring at each other. Then our eyes go wide once realising our compromising position.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry!" I exclaim, trying to roll off of him, but our headphones have gotten tangled, and so have our limbs.

He chuckles slightly. "Y'know, I usually take a girl on a couple of dates before I go that far." His voice is low and masculine. There would be a puddle on the floor if it weren't for what he said. It brings an instant scowl onto my face.

"Maybe you should look where you're going next time," I spit, pushing myself up and brushing myself off.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't the only one not looking," he comments. "Weren't you the one that apologised first?" My cheeks flushed angrily. If there's one thing I hate more than cocky dickheads, it's when I'm proven wrong.

"Well, I've noticed that you haven't," I quickly retort.

"Fine, I'm sorry. Now, do mind giving me a hand up. I think I twisted my ankle," he says. My face falls and I quickly take his outstretched hand to help him onto his feet. It feels as though there's an electric current that's just surged up my arm and into my stomach. He hisses as he puts pressure on his foot.

"Shit, are you okay?" I ask, worried. He flashes me a charming smile, nodding, before grimacing as he applies more pressure. "No, you're not. Shit, shit, shit," I mutter, swinging his arm over my shoulder and leading him over to a nearby bench.

I begin taking off his shoe and then his sock and he laughs again. "Shouldn't I at least know your name before you start undressing me?"

I halt my actions at look him in the eye. "Make another comment like that and it's not just going to be your foot that hurts, okay, Chuckles?" He laughs again, and I roll my eyes. Reaching into my shoe, I pull out a small roll of bandage and begin wrapping up his foot.

"I'm Peeta," he tells me.

"That's nice, Chuckles," I deadpan. I roll on his sock and carefully put his shoe back on.

"Do I get to know your name?" he asks.

I sigh. "Katniss."

"That's a beautiful name," he says, quietly testing it out on his tongue. I sit next to him on the bench and look at my watch. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"What gave me away?" I ask, sarcastically.

"Where abouts are you from?"

"The West Middlands," I answer. "Whereas, I can guess that you, from the lack of an accent differentiate, are from around here. Probably from the coast, as you've got that surfer dude look."

He laughs. His laughter is like music to my ears. It's low, like his voice, but is also childlike and cheeky. My cheeks flush as I realise how rude I'm being.

"I'm sorry." He looks at me confused. "For being such a bitch, I mean. I'm not that good at the whole, being a human being with social skills thing." I shrug apologetically and he smiles. This time, I'm pretty sure there is a puddle. I'm embarrassed at how turned on I am by just his appearance. He's tall and stocky with messy blonde hair and slightly tanned skin, from the Cali sun. His smile is just… perfect. He's perfect. And his eyes. His eyes could make sapphires look like a dull blue stone. They're beautiful.

I realise how long I've been staring at him and flush red. That's when I notice, that he is too. I check my watch again and, realising that Johanna should be awake by now, I stand up. "I should be going. My roommate will be awake and we've got a lot to do today."

Understanding, he nods and stands too. I give an awkward wave goodbye and I'm walking away, hating myself entirely for the whole ordeal, when he calls out.

"Do you run this trail often?"

I stop and turn back, seeing Peeta standing with his hands in his pockets, looking nervous. My stomach starts to flutter.

"Pretty often, yeah. Why?"

"It'd be nice to see you again," he replies, looking into my eyes with a lazy smile.

I scoff. "And why's that, Chuckles? Want another twisted ankle?"

"You just intrigue me, is all." He gives me one last bright smile. "I'll be seeing you, Katniss." And then he runs the other way.

"Brainless, where were you?" Jo asks, as I walk through the door.

"I went for a run," I answer, flopping down on the couch.

"You and your running, I'll never understand your need to exercise," she says, sitting next to me and turning on the TV.

"Yeah, well. Not all of us have a fast metabolism like you, Jo," I laugh.

She looks at me curiously. "You seem distracted, what's up?"

"What? Oh, it's nothing," I answer quickly. She narrows her eyes at me. Then they go wide and she gasps.

"You met a guy didn't you?!" I stay quiet and she laughs manically. "I knew it! You did! What's his name? Did you get his number? What's he look like?"

"Woah, Jo, calm your shit." She stops asking questions and crosses her legs, facing me with a shit eating grin on her face.

"Tell me _everything_."

"There's nothing to tell," I say. "I wasn't looking where I was going, ran into him, ended up on top of him"-she laughs at the image of that-"I twisted his ankle, wrapped it in a bandage and then we went separate ways. That's all," I finish, as she pouts, wanting more details. But like the meadow, I want to keep the image of him to myself just a little while longer.

Later that day, Jo and I go to the bar and make sure everything is in order for opening on Saturday night. Flyers have been up around the town for weeks and we've had countless emails from people asking about events and hiring's. It's been a nightmare, but amazing.

The bar is everything we could have hoped for. With the bar in the centre of the room, we get full view of everywhere. In the back right corner there is room for a stage and even a dance floor, if there are ever any wedding reception bookings. A Jukebox in the back left corner. Booths with red leather seating. It's perfect.

"Everything is ready now. We've got two days before opening, we may as well relax," I say and Jo jumps up onto the side.

"By the way," says Jo. "I bumped into Thresh in the lift. He said that we're not the only newbies in the building."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. He helped some guy move in in the apartment below ours. I was thinking that maybe we should visit. Take some cookies or something as a 'hey, we just moved into the building too and need more friends in the area' gift."

I groan and pout. "Why do we have to make friends? We have Finn, Mags and Thresh. Isn't that enough?"

"Now, now, Brainless, you're never going to make any friends with that attitude," she scolds jokingly.

"Exactly, I don't want anymore. You're handful enough," I mumble. Johanna punches my arm and I smile at her. "Love you really."

It seems my efforts weren't enough as the next day I'm standing outside of the apartment below ours with a plate of Target cookie mix cookies. I look over at Jo, pleadingly but she just shakes her head.

Sighing, I knock on the door three times.

"Hang on!" a voice calls from inside. It sounds familiar. A familiar low and masculine I met a couple of days ago. It must be because I've not stopped thinking about Peeta since we met. Every time I close my eyes, he's there. Never before has one guy has so much effect on me.

The door swings open and my jaw drops in disbelief.

"Katniss?" he asks, surprised.

"Peeta," I smile awkwardly.

"Well hot damn. Now I understand why you go running," says Jo.


End file.
